Til The End

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`Til The End

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The capture of Peter Pettigrew and the subsequent pardon of Sirius Black shook the wizarding world like a tempest shakes the boughs of a young tree. Pettigrew´s testimony in court revealed that an Asian witch who had turned into a cat had captured him. Cho was rather worried for a while, both for herself and for Charisse, but the latter reassured her that everything was all right.

"Father was rather angry with me. Told me that I should have known that the cat I had given Anthony had been unusual. I simply told him that Pettigrew himself had stayed with the Weasley family for twelve years, and no one had known a thing. Anthony is a little upset over the loss of his pet, but I think he is really rather bowled over by the whole thing. And, secretly, rather impressed. In any case, I don´t think that he will be allowed to have another familiar. Well, at the very least, not until father´s paranoia wears off... and who knows when that might be?" Charisse rolled her eyes very slightly, "However, don´t worry about me. You-Know-Who is rather upset at the loss of his servant, but is looking forward to gaining others."

Cho knew what she was referring to. The initiations of Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Charisse sighed softly, "Draco Malfoy is going to be initiated on the same day. Lucius promised the Dark Lord."

Cho´s eyes widened, "Oh dear... " She shook her head, "I have been in contact with Jing-Li. She said that she would make sure that no new Death Eaters would be initiated on that day."

Charisse shook her head gloomily, "Let´s just hope that she´s as good as her word."

* * *

On the fateful evening of the initiation, Voldemort, as well as the fathers of the three to be initiated, and Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle and Draco Malfoy Apparated to the graveyard. The place was deserted, and as usual, the Death Eaters and Death Eaters-to-be formed a rough semicircle in front of the Dark Lord. There was silence all around, until a soft pop nearby signified the arrival of someone new.

Walden Macnair, Hector Nott and Charisse Weston, all three of which carried a small bundle in his or her arms. Abruptly, all three bundles were set to the ground, and in the moonlight, were revealed to be three children, all with curly hair. Two were twin girls of five, crying softly in fear. One was older, looking to be about nine, huddling over her little sisters protectively, although she herself was shaking fearfully.

Voldemort gave a particularly nasty smile. "Ah, but of course. The sisters of that mudblood Hufflepuff who just graduated along with the three who shall be entering my service today. Young Draco Malfoy... you surely remember Justin Finch-Fletchley."

Draco nodded, staring at the little girls. Voldemort continued, "Mudblood scum, all of them! Now is your chance to eliminate them before they have a chance to enter and infest our world."

Draco remained unmoving, seeming to be frozen. Then, he gestured to Crabbe and Goyle, "Perhaps they should go first. I will wait."

Voldemort looked at the young blond man strangely, but acquiesced. He gestured for Crabbe and Goyle to step forward. The two did so, hulking forms dark in the moonlight, and the girls in the center gasped in horror. Both the two held in their hands huge clubs.

Crabbe stepped forward, grabbing one of the younger girls by her curly hair, and yanking her upward. She gave a terrified, high-pitched shriek, and Goyle punched her in the face, grunting threats unless she shut up. The other two shrank backwards, in an effort to escape, only to be caught and held immobile by Macnair and Nott. A horrible, hideous leer on his face, Goyle raised his club, intending obviously to dash the child´s brains out.

What happened next, no one quite knew, but all of the sudden, seemingly from nowhere, several figures with black kerchiefs concealing their noses and mouths leapt into the circle. One tall, wiry figure was in the center, and immediately went for Gregory Goyle, a look of utmost fury in the dark eyes that were visible above the black kerchief. A slim but strong-looking hand reached out like a cobra´s head striking, and two fingers came in violent contact with Goyle´s thick throat. Goyle backed away, clutching his neck.

Voldemort´s red eyes widened in recognition at the uniform worn by the group of intruders. "Shen-Wu Mages from China," he said in a tone both awe-filled and yet menacing, "I have lost a servant to the Dementor´s Kiss because of you. How kind of you to show up so that he can be avenged."

The leader of the Mages gave a derisive chuckle, and muttered in a husky voice that was rather accented, "You just keep thinking that. Look at one over there," pointing at Goyle.

The heavyset young man had dropped his club, and was looking terrified, clutching his throat in obvious pain. The Mage leader laughed coldly, "The jugular vein in his neck broken, the windpipe ruptured. His blood flow down his windpipe, in five minute he drown in own blood. No longer able to kill children."

The Death Eaters stared at the Mage leader in shock for a moment, then galvanized into action. Crabbe the younger and Goyle the elder both rushed at the slim, blue-clad figure, but the Mage leader leapt into the air, one foot coming in solid contact with the elder Goyle´s groin, and hitting Crabbe in the collarbone and kidney with the blades of the hands. Both the black-robed figures fell to the ground in agony, and immediately, the other Death Eaters drew their wands.

The Mages were unfazed, and drew their wands as well. The Mage Leader aimed at Crabbe the younger, and called out, "Ba Gua Huo Yan Zhen!" Crabbe the younger fell to the ground, rolling about, his face turning redder and redder, sweat breaking upon his brow.

In the confusion, several of the other Mages had already grabbed the children and Disapparated. The Mage Leader, however, remained, as did two others, both of whom had their wands drawn. The Mage Leader gave Crabbe a pitiless look, and once again coldly explained what had happened to him, "Hex of Celestial fire. Burn evil heart from within. Body will become too hot and blood and humors will boil. Brain denature."

Hexes arced across the air like lightning bolts, making the air around them so dense with sparks, bangs, smoke, and screams that no one could see or hear precisely what was going on for the next five minutes. When the air had cleared, the Mage Leader had a foot over Crabbe the elder´s still body, and had a wand pointed outward. But there were no more Death Eaters around besides those who had fallen. They had Disapparated. The Mage Leader turned to the other two mages, and reached up to pull away the black kerchief.

"Miss Zhao, what do we do now?" one of them asked in Chinese.

Jing-Li took in the carnage, and narrowed her eyes, "We return to camp. Four Death Eaters down, but the others escaped."

"Well, Miss Zhao, did you expect to defeat the Dark Lord?"

Jing-Li shrugged, "Not exactly. It is only one meeting after all, I did not expect overmuch. I did not expect to kill him." She paused for a moment, and tacked on, as an afterthought, "Only to injure him severely."

There was a snort of amusement, and then three small pops sounded in the air, and the graveyard was once again only occupied with the dead.

* * *

Lucius Malfoy paced in his study like a caged tiger. Those thrice-damned Mages! First the capture of Wormtail, then the destruction of Crabbe, Goyle and their sons. He and Draco had had to Disapparate from the graveyard back to Malfoy Manor for the sake of safety.

And these days, the boy had been quiet. Brooding. Did not talk of the scene in the graveyard, or much of anything else, either. Draco simply stayed in his room and fretted.

Lucius stopped pacing for a moment and took a sip from the goblet of wine he held in his hand. Crabbe and Goyle, both the elder and the younger, had been unfortunate losses. But then, they had been much too rash. Storming headlong at a fully trained Mage was basically asking for death. Oh well, it had taught the rest of them a lesson.

He would have the initiation ceremony for Draco once again in a month, and this time around, he would make certain that there would be adequate enough protection. Draco would get the Mark, and not die in the process. And perhaps... perhaps, they might be able to capture one of the Mages. Lucius smiled as images of oriental wizards screaming under the Cruciatus curse filled his head.

Meanwhile, in his room, Draco Malfoy looked at the scrap of parchment on his desk, covered with drying ink. With a set face, he set it on fire with his wand, and watched silently as it burned.

The word stood out clearly before the sheet shriveled up into a ball of crinkled ash. "Doomed."

* * *

A month later, the Death Eaters once again gathered in the graveyard. This time, there were far more masked, robed figures than there had been at any previous Initiation ceremony. Once again, a child was brought in, a chubby boy of three. The boy did not seem to know what was going on, and simply stared at the dark wizards with wide, guileless blue eyes as he sat in the middle of the circle.

"Draco Malfoy, come forth."

Draco stepped forward slowly, his face expressionless. He did not speak. The others waited, and watched. Nothing happened.

Finally, Lucius spoke up, his voice menacingly impatient, "Boy, get on with it! I taught you the curse myself."

Draco seemed to be having an internal struggle, fingering his wand with his hands. For a long time, he did not respond, and then, he turned towards his father with a grim expression on his face. "No," he said softly.

There was a deafening silence as all of the masked figures watched him in stunned disbelief.

"What did you just say, boy?!" his father´s voice, filled with cold, nearly palpable rage, rang out, breaking the stunned silence.

He could keep silent. Hold out both arms, his wand arm performing the Killing curse on the child, his other to receive the Mark. He could... they had not passed judgment yet. But he did not.

"No," he repeated. The one word to seal his inevitable death sentence. Up in the tree, a black kerchief concealing her nose and mouth from view, Jing-Li´s eyes widened. Well, well... this was an interesting new development. But now... he would be killed. The Death Eaters were out for blood. It was either the blood of the child, or the blood of the one who had refused to kill the child.

That did not mean that they would succeed. No... indeed they would not. But she did not have much time. There were too many. The rebel´s father was powerful and had many followers. Fighting would not be an option this time.

Oh well... there would be time for that, she was sure. They were advancing upon him, wands drawn. The rebel looked back at them, the handsome face still filled with pride, head held high, silvery hair gleaming in the moonlight. Protectively, he had an arm over the child´s body. As his father approached with a truly ugly look on his hard face, he grabbed the child´s wrist. Jing-Li smiled behind her kerchief. Good! Draco, you are clever indeed. You are making my job much easier.

Quickly, she removed an acorn from the tree, and cast an Engorgio charm on it until it was about the size of a ping-pong ball. Muttering the correct incantation over it, she whistled, and tossed it down directly at the younger Malfoy´s head. Cho had mentioned that he was a Seeker, a good one.

Now was the time to see if this were truly the case. Cho had better not have been exaggerating...

Draco Malfoy looked up to hear a clear, high-pitched whistle coming from somewhere up high. The Death Eaters looked up frantically, wands drawn, but could not see anyone. And then... something soared downward... something somewhat round, about the size of a Snitch.

Draco caught it reflexively, and all of the sudden, felt a jerk at his navel. As the world started to spin, he suddenly knew that he was leaving them forever.

* * *

When everything had stopped spinning at last, he found himself in the middle of a strange sort of encampment. He was surrounded by tents on all side: blue tents with the golden emblems of the Chinese Mages emblazoned on the side. The tents were almost entirely silent. Draco frowned.

"Where the devil am I?!"

"I would think that it would be obvious," an accented, husky voice sounded behind him. Draco whirled around and found himself face-to-face with the same Mage leader who had defeated Crabbe and Goyle, sitting spryly in the branches of a nearby tree. The Mage leader leapt down nimbly, and pointed to a nearby tent. "You must be weary from ordeal tonight. Go sleep, I answer questions tomorrow."

Draco looked at the Mage leader suspiciously, "You... I WATCHED you kill four men in cold blood. Why should I do what you tell me? I don´t even know who you are."

The Mage leader´s eyes rolled heavenward above the black kerchief, and replied, "Since you saw me do that, you should obey me all the more."

"Obey you? OBEY YOU?! I just DISOBEYED the Dark Lord, and you´re telling me to obey YOU!" Draco threw his hands into the air, now, Slytherin assuredness and sneer back in his voice.

"Oh don´t you even start about disobeying the Dark Lord, Draco Malfoy!" the Mage leader hissed, "Ta ma le ge ba zi de... sodding wanker!" Draco raised an eyebrow. But the Mage leader continued, "I have just saved you from Killing Curse, and the fact that you not even thanking me already giving me great offense. Now, go to tent and sleep before I hex you!"

Draco choked. This situation was becoming increasingly surreal. First, he was to be initiated tonight. Then, just as he refused, someone threw him a Portkey, bringing him to this place, and now, the crazy bloodthirsty Mage leader of Doom was threatening to hex him if he didn´t... sleep?! Dimly, he noticed that another Mage had taken the child he had brought along to another tent. But still, the Mage leader was staring up at him, giving no indication of backing down at any time.

"I´ve never been threatened to be hexed for not sleeping... who do you think you are, my mother?!"

The Mage leader laughed cynically, "I not than unfortunate, thank Heavens, and let me assure you, I never bed man who was about to kill you tonight. But, no more questions until morning, go to tent now!"

"What if I don´t?" And Draco suddenly found himself suspended in the air, upside down, floating about ten feet above the Mage leader´s head.

"Will you go to sleep voluntarily, or shall we wait for blood to rush to your head and you to fall unconscious?"

"Fine, I´ll go to sleep," Draco said in a sulky voice. The Mage leader smiled, and set him down on his feet. He glared, and stalked towards the tent.

"And a thank-you-for-saving-my-unworthy-arse-from-maniacal-Death-Eaters would be appreciated!"

"Sod off! You don´t even have silk sheets here... and I have a great arse!" came Draco´s voice from within the tent.

Jing-Li threw her hands into the air and glared at the tent. Carefully, she removed the black kerchief from her nose and mouth, and a fluent string of Chinese profanity escaped explosively from her lips.

* * *

"So, young Malfoy´s rebelled, eh?"

"Yes, he has. He´s missing right now. He got thrown a Portkey that night from an unknown source, and we have no idea where he might be."

"Well, well... I´ll be damned. Old Lucius must be apopleptic with rage right now, eh?"

"Yes, that he is. Just wanted to let you know what was going on, though, sir. And if you ever run into him... well, now you know what really happened. Please, if you do see him, help him out."

"That I will, lassie, don´t you worry. Young Malfoy... who´d have thought?" Mad-Eye Moody looked incredulous, then grinned apologetically at the wispy blonde girl standing in his yard, "And sorry about your scarf. My Dark Detectors are rather jittery lately... maybe it can be repaired?" gesturing the bit of shredded silk hanging from what looked like a giant antennae sticking out of a hole in the tree in his yard.

"Oh, not to worry," Charisse reassured him, "Just a little bit ripped. I have loads more. No harm done." She looked down at her watch, "Well, I must go. My father is expecting me at home."

"Humph! Your father," Moody spat, "One of these days, I´ll get him good..."

Charisse gave him an apologetic smile, and walked off of his property. She walked to the end of the road, and Disapparated back home. A wave of her wand, and the scarf was repaired. No harm done.

Or so she thought.

* * *

"Avada Kedavra!" Three hooded, masked figures laughed terribly and triumphantly as Mad-Eye Moody fell to the ground, dead.

The first removed his mask, Hector Nott. He turned to a second, and smirked, "Well, Father, we´ve gotten rid of one of them. Now, we just have to capture the Potter boy and then those damned Mages."

"I say we look around. Moody might have something... useful... around here." The third Death Eater unmasked, and Mordred Weston gave the fallen Auror a cold look, kicking his stump leg savagely aside. "Hector, Claudius, search in the house. I´ll keep watch."

Twenty minutes later, the two Notts walked out of the house, hands laden with various papers and instruments. "Well, Mordred, not too much, but these might be somewhat useful." Claudius Nott remarked.

"No, it will not be necessary," Mordred Weston´s voice was cold as ice, and when he turned around, his eyes were blazing with inhuman fury. "I´ve found the most useful thing already."

He held in his hand a fragment of silk. Embroidered in the corner were the initials "CRW".

"Charisse Regina Weston," Hector whispered with a look of dawning comprehension on his face.

"The BITCH!" Weston hissed.

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Uh-oh...